Thanksgiving Message 2014

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I wanted to share with you some thoughts and pictures of my Thanksgiving trip up to Worlds End State Park. I went up with John and we stayed for 4 days/3 nights at a cabin up in the middle of Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains. It was fun, relaxing, and calming for the soul.

Our little cabin, Cabin #6

Snow anyone?

We traveled north the day before during some really bad weather. The Mid-Atlantic states were socked with our first bad Nor' Easter of the season. We even left early at 6:30 AM to avoid the incoming snow storm. Thankfully, we got out of Schuylkill County before the brunt of it hit the area. I heard afterwards that there were many accidents on our road after we left that morning. After we drove over a huge mountain just south of Numidia, the weather thankfully cleared for a bit. The mountain was pretty scary driving  with snowflakes falling as large as silver dollars.

Toasting the snow!

Driving past Bloomsburg up to the state park was clear though. It was actually a nice drive. Once we got into the cabin, the snow bands whipped around and hit Sullivan County. We unloaded the Jeep, started a fire in the wood stove of the cabin, and hunkered down for a bit.

The beautiful snow was too exciting to stay inside so we bundled up in our snow gear and headed out for a short hike up to the park ranger's office about a mile through the park. The snow fell heavily and whipped into your face but it was actually a lot of fun trudging through it. Later in the cabin, hot chocolate, marshmallows, reading, and a movie passed the time.

John hiking the World's End Trail

On Thanksgiving day we had a great breakfast of eggs and Spam (Yes Spam! I love it during camping!). We hiked through 5-8 inches of snow up the side of the mountain to the World's End Vista. I wore a bright orange ski jacket and red ski pants. John referred to me as the walking lighthouse. You couldn't miss me! If there were hunters in the area, they would have seen me a mile away. And if we needed rescuing, any helicopter flying over head would definitely see me. I'm always prepared just like a Boy Scout!

The fall and the slide

Can't breath! Wind knocked out of me!

Coming back down the mountain was a bit more treacherous. Many times we had to take little half side steps to avoid falling face first down the trail. And even then, we often fell flat on our backs, sliding down the trail 10 feet or so. At one point, I fell so hard, I got the wind knocked out of me and just lay there for a minute to catch my breath. And where was John? Helping me up? Nooo, he was happy to get out the camera and take pictures of me lying (feeling like I'm dying) on the trail.

Later that day, we ended up watching the Eagles trounce the Cowboys at a local B&B watering hole called the Sonestown Inn. The Inn had what looked like a great Thanksgiving platter but John and I looked at each other and said "Naaah."  He had the open faced roast beef and I tackled a 1/2 pound burger. This was after downing (and sharing) a dozen wings, pierogies, and onion rings. Hey, it was a long game!

One exploded turkey coming up!

The day after Thanksgiving, we had our a smokey turkey in the cabin. The cabin had an electric stove and since the turkey was already cooked, it just needed to be heated up. John did tell me one thing though, "It doesn't look pretty but I got it 1/2 off."
I said, "Um ... Why?"
"Because our turkey exploded in the smoker and the guy gave it to me for 1/2 off," he laughed.
I busted out laughing too. And the turkey did looked butchered by a serial killer but I gotta tell you it was soo damn good!

It was a great mini-vacation. We shopped the quaint little nearby town of Eagles Mere, smoked some cigars, drank some whiskey, hiked through snow, fell down the mountain, and ate an exploded turkey. Now that's an interesting Thanksgiving!

On the Loyalsock Creek